EP3808676A1

EP3808676A1 - Packaging strips

Info

Publication number: EP3808676A1
Application number: EP20202388.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antonio Garegnani
Original assignee: Akro Brain Srl
Current assignee: Akro Brain Srl
Priority date: 2019-10-17
Filing date: 2020-10-16
Publication date: 2021-04-21
Also published as: IT201900019208A1

Abstract

The invention substantially consists of a plurality of packaging strips or bands, characterized in that they are spaced apart and kept in position by a thin polymeric supporting film to which they are coupled.

Description

The present invention relates to the industrial packaging sector and suggests the use of strips or bands, preferably made of polyethylene, for containing goods to be palletized.
The use of strapping (i.e., strips or bands), either metallic or made of polypropylene, is currently known and has the advantage of being extremely strong.
However, it can be seen that the operations of unwinding and subsequent positioning in use of said known strapping are often not easy for the operator, particularly because of the tendency of such strapping to overlap or otherwise deviate from a correct position, both during the step of unwinding relative to a reel and during the respective wrapping around the goods to be palletized.
In addition, said known solutions do not provide adequate isolation of the pallet from contamination from external agents.
Documents DE 698 13 133 T2 and US 2015/306849 A1 of the prior art disclose films made of polymeric material (e.g., polyethylene) to be wrapped around goods or materials (even bulky or heavy) for packaging/palletizing them, reinforced by longitudinal supporting strips. It can be seen that, in said known solutions, said strips are only intended to achieve the structural reinforcement of the polymeric film used for palletizing, without any further function. In other words, in said known solutions, the containment effect of the goods or materials to be palletized is obtained only by means of the polymeric film, wrapped (e.g., two or three times) around said goods or materials, while said supporting strips have a sole function of structural reinforcement of said film. More specifically, said strips contribute to reinforcing the polymeric film in the relative unwinding direction. Said strips can be connected relative to the film by gluing, sealing, or other method suited to the purpose. Furthermore, in the configuration according to DE 698 13 133 T2 , said polymer film also has a plurality of surface holes to allow the passage of air (e.g., in the case in which said film is used for palletizing perishable goods, such as fruit or the like). In particular, said holes are large enough to allow air to pass through even after the film is wrapped two or three times around the goods to be palletized.
Further examples of polymeric films for palletizing goods, materials, or the like comprising structural reinforcement elements are known, e.g. from US documents 2016/251155 A and CA 2 847 955 A1 .
It is the main object of the invention to provide means which can be used to make packaging, easily positionable on the object to be packaged and which allows the packaged goods to be adequately contained and protected, while limiting the amount and, therefore, the weight, of the material used for packaging. Furthermore, such strapping is often difficult to keep in place on the surface of the packaging, especially if the shape of the packaging is not regular.
The suggested solution consists of packaging strips or bands spaced apart, which are held in mutual position by a thin polymer film. It is worth noting that, in the present invention, said polymeric film is only functional to keeping said packaging strips or bands in position during the step of unwinding and subsequent use, without cooperating in any manner to containing the goods to be packaged/palletized.
The invention substantially consists of a plurality of packaging strips which, in a preferred embodiment, are equally spaced apart and kept in place by a polymeric film to which they are coupled. In the described example, such strips may be provided with longitudinal reinforcing side edgings.
Said strips, or bands, are preferably made of polyethylene and are available as wrapped in reels, like normal packaging films.
It is interesting to note that the fact that said strips are arranged on a thin film support makes it advantageously possible to facilitate the unwinding of the strips themselves as well as the packaging of the goods. Such thin film, the function of which is substantially to keep them spaced apart, is preferably less than 10 microns thick.
As mentioned in the preamble, said film made of polymeric material has no function in containing/keeping in position the goods to be packaged/palletized. On the contrary, said film is primarily aimed at achieving and keeping the correct positioning of said plurality of packaging strips during the steps of unwinding relative to the reel and subsequent positioning in use.
The bands themselves, once the winding is finished, will form a very tenacious lattice, while said thin supporting film of the strips may advantageously act, by way of assistance, also as a barrier against possible environmental contamination.
The invention makes it possible to simplify the packing operations of pallets and/or other goods which do not require specific insulating protection.
Therefore, the use of the invention makes it possible to contain the goods adequately, minimizing the use of plastic for packaging; indeed, the polymeric film, which spaces said strips apart, works mainly as a support to facilitate the laying and positioning of the strips on the goods and, therefore, the material of which it is made need not be particularly strong and/or have the same features as the strips. Indeed, since it is in no way intended to contain the packaged/palletized goods (a function which, on the contrary, is carried out only by the packaging strips), said film does not need to have structural features of particular strength relative to traction, impact or the like (if necessary, said film could also tear in some points after the strips have been placed in use, without this being detrimental to the final result of correct packaging/palletizing of the goods). On the other hand, to obtain the desired result, it is not required to wrap said film many times around the goods to be packaged/palletized, with the resulting significant savings in plastic material. The retaining of the goods is indeed achieved only by means of the strips. Indeed, the latter have structural features that give them high strength, making them suitable to guarantee the correct retaining in position of the packaged/palletized goods, without the aid of other containment means, such as polymer film.
This lower consumption of plastic also results in a lower weight of the final packaging; this is due to two factors: on one hand, the lattice formed by the bands makes it possible to obtain a more tenacious packaging with less expenditure of material; on the other hand, the polymeric supporting film, which is thinner and thus has a lower weight relative to the bands, contributes to making these packaging means lighter than the commercially available packaging films, while still protecting the integrity of the product.
The invention, in an alternative embodiment, can have strips made of extensible material, up to about 400%, and with a predeterminable elastic coefficient.

Claims

Packaging strips or bands, spaced apart and kept in position by means of a thin polymeric supporting film to which they are coupled, said supporting film having the function of spacing said strips apart and facilitating their positioning on the goods to be protected.
Strips according to the preceding claim, characterized in that they are provided with longitudinal lateral reinforcement edgings.
Strips according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that they are made of extensible material, e.g. polyethylene.
Strips according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the supporting film to which they are coupled can be used to provide a barrier against any environmental contamination.
Strips according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thickness of the supporting film to which they are coupled is either less than or equal to 10 microns.